Learning about the 50 States

[Elizabeth86]

We are going to work through learning about all 50 states for my boys for 3rd and 5th grade next year.  I'd like some curriculum suggestions or your own approach is appreciated too.  I have looked at lots of ideas and options and I can't make a decision.  

[lulalu]

I put my own together using lots of resources.

The Scrambled 50 States game 

Professor Noggin geography of the US 

Trick Geography

Poetry Atlas of the United States of America

Wrap Ups of the States 

And flash cards 

 

 

[Earthmerlin]

What about that Animaniacs song?

[My4arrows]

 Notgrass has a curriculum the 50 States. I’m using that along with America the beautiful next year. 50 states will be a family subject (geared towards grades 1-4). I’m adding in a state information sheet my older ones fill out and they will also be planning a fictional trip across the us. They will research places to visit, cost of the trip, etc while we learn about the state. We will also be adding Trail Guide to US Geography for my older ones to map.  And lots of games- Top Trumps, professor noggins and a few more we have on hands. They will also be learning about the national parks (which I believe is a small, part of the curriculum) using additional books. To culminate it, we will be doing a state project on our state, hopefully visiting places and my oldest writing a report about our towns history. 

[cintinative]

One year we did a 50 states thing where we did mapping by region, and made pages that had the state flag, seal, quarter etc. on them (I printed them on sticker paper and they put them on) and a fun fact for each state. I attached it.

We used the Trail Guide to U.S. Geography but you could certainly use something else.

A lot of the maps were from a free resource I found called "50 states and where to find them." I think maybe it was loosely based on the Holling books (Paddle to the Sea, etc.) ETA: it looks like it is no longer free. http://barefootmeandering.com/site/american-studies/

We also did these coloring pages: https://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/places/us-states-coloring-pages/

I have my schedule if that is helpful.

notebooking pages used 2015.pdf

Edited June 3, 2021 by cintinative

[8filltheheart]

Yrs ago my kids watched How the States Got Their Shapes. https://www.amazon.com/How-States-Got-Their-Shapes/dp/B005ELVCDY/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&hvadid=77721844001321&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&keywords=how+the+states+got+their+shape&qid=1622768722&sr=8-5

[LauraClark]

If you're just looking at state placement on a map, we used seterra.com

[ktgrok]

As an addition, not a full resource, Highlights Where in the USA is a subscription where you get two state puzzle/hidden picture/trivia magazines every 3 weeks. My kids work on them together. https://www.highlights.com/store/puzzle-book-clubs/which-way-usa?gclid=Cj0KCQjwnueFBhChARIsAPu3YkQEnKWrMR64AqthqzTMFYo8ftVcsHM8k4r_yBRNuMFZBDMQwwkLDxEaAsrFEALw_wcB

[blendergal]

The traditional flag/flower/bird state study never appealed to me, so we went a slightly different direction. We read picture books about many of the states — Akiak, Georgia in Hawaii, High as a Hawk, Climbing Kansas Mountains, etc. — and glued their tiny book covers on a map. We used flash cards to drill the capitals and Draw the USA to learn how to draw the map from memory. It was one of the most fun, productive things we’ve done in our homeschool.

Edited June 6, 2021 by blendergal

[Williams1956]

My boys are going into 3rd and 5th next year. I found 8 for Each State on Pam Barnhill's site. There were too many activities for me, but I picked a few things and it's been working pretty well. We've been going through the 50 states in the order they entered the union. Each week we read the state book from the Discovering America State by State series. They have an A-Z poem that doesn't take long to read, but they have longer sections for each letter that we read if they want to know more about something. They labeled a state map and did a little note booking page, and then colored in the state in on a US map. We also found The 50 States cookbook and made the recipe for the state we leaned about that week. They also like to play Stack the States.

[Clickie]

Sequence States and Capitals board game helps drill capitals, and you'll be familiar with the state's shapes. Overall, it's an okay game for what it does, not fascinating but you'll learn the capitals.  Way better than flash cards...  Link here, but we bought at a *normal* price, currently not normal....

https://www.amazon.com/Jax-Sequence-States-and-Capitals/dp/B000RZHGL4/

[theelfqueen]

The stacking the states app can be good. 

[mellifera33]

We used Wee Folk Art's State Studies unit for my two younger kids this year. It's gentle and crafty and still in rough draft form. lol Stack the States was also a hit here, and my daughter and I love the Trekking the National Parks board game.